Sample Press Releases

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE January 20, 2005

Recipes from Steve Raichlen’s Indoor Grilling brought to life at Bistro Joseph-Beth

A full-service restaurant and wine bar located inside Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Bistro Joseph-Beth features a set menu of items prepared from cookbook recipes. Indoor Grilling represents February’s featured cookbook and includes delicacies like Peanut Shrimp and Puerto Rican Pork Roast.

Cleveland, OH – Bistro Joseph-Beth has carved a novel niche with a menu composed of recipes from cookbooks. The catch: the full-service restaurant and wine bar is located inside Joseph-Beth Booksellers at the Legacy Center in Lyndhurst. About 90 percent of the items on Bistro Joseph-Beth’s set menu are derived from cookbook recipes, and each month the restaurant features an array of items from a featured cookbook available for sale in the bookstore. In February, that cookbook is Indoor Grilling by Steven Raichlen.

Host of PBS’s series Barbecue University at the Greenbrier and regarded by many culinary enthusiasts as America's grilling guru, Raichlen’s book reflects his passion for live-fire cooking and transfers it to the world of indoor grilling – ideal for winter in northeast Ohio. Four of Raichlen’s five Barbecue! Bible books are main selections of The Good Cook Club. In addition, he is author of the award-winning Miami Spice.

Raichlen lives and grills in Coconut Grove, Florida and on Martha's Vineyard.

Menu selections from Indoor Grilling include an appetizer of chili-rubbed grilled shrimp cocktail with avocado and corn salsa and the shrimp salad, which is crackling with Southeastern Asia flavors and tossed in a tantalizing dressing. The featured sandwiches are Media Noche, the classic Cuban Roast Pork and Ham sandwich; and Elena Ruz, a Turkey and cranberry and cream cheese sandwich that is reminiscent of Thanksgiving dinner. Entrees, which include the choice of a side house salad or cup of homemade soup, are Puerto Rican Pork Roast, basted with annatto oil and served with house slaw and Raichlen's parmesan-crusted polenta; Sesame-Seared Tuna, which is crusted on the outside and rare on the inside, and served with sautéed spinach and vegetables; Parmesan-crusted Polenta Caprese just like it is served on the Isle of Capri with fresh Mozzarella, basil and tomatoes.

With a menu that includes rotating chef specials and a monthly featured cookbook, customers are enticed to taste the latest delicacies. Bistro Joseph-Beth guests are never bored with the menu selections.

“The book store is an extraoridinary resource for our restaurant. It gives us access to talented and innovative chefs and their creations,” said Roger Ranalli, who is director of operations for Joseph-Beth’s restaurant division. “We can take excellent recipes from the best chefs in the world and feature them for a period of time. This keeps our menu fresh and evolving.”

Some items from the featured cookbook of the month even become fixtures on the menu.

“If a recipe is embraced by our guests, chances are it will become a part of the set menu,” Ranalli explained. “The determining factor is how well it sells.”

At Bistro Joseph-Beth in Cleveland, Raichlen’s recipes – and the recipes of every featured cookbook – are brought to life by chef Joe Dawson, who operates the restaurant with his wife, and the Bistro manager, Kimberly Dawson.

“Two of life’s simplest pleasures are relaxing with a good book and enjoying flavorful cuisine with a glass of fine wine,” Kimberly Dawson explained. “You can experience both at our restaurant.

“You never get bored with our menu because it is consistently updated with new recipes,” Dawson added. “People look forward to coming back each month to experience the selections from the featured cookbook first-hand. It’s something they can’t do anywhere else.”